Jenny had a Fan-tastic opportunity to sit down with bestselling author, Blake Crouch. Atomic Geekdom’s friend Nicole Reid joined the Q&A as they discussed his July 12th, 2022 release UPGRADE. Check out the full interview below or on YouTube (HERE) and the AG podcast (HERE).

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UPGRADE by Blake Crouch

Release Date: 07/12/2022

Published by Penguin Random House

By Jenny Robinson

What happens when a cure becomes a plague? When can you forgive yourself of your inadvertent crimes against nature? How do you survive in the ripples of the disaster? And what would happen if your DNA was highjacked? UPGRADE is a fast paced story that follows Logan Ramsey. He is a family man confronting each those questions.

The storyline takes place in a world recovering from a famine. Due to gene editing, much of the world’s crops were destroyed by science gone wrong. Already, I began to have that sense of storytelling anxiety that oddly makes me love suspense books. Logan’s mother was the prestigious gene-editing biologist behind this disaster. She was a force to be reckoned with. Her scientific creations were meant to help save the planet, but instead backfired and killed millions. Logan had worked along side his mother and carried the weight of regret from that mistake. To atone, he then became a federal agent once he was released from prison. He began working to put a stop to the outlaw geneticist popping up after the disaster and who were using his mother’s science.

The plot picks up quickly during a raid that leaves Logan suspiciously injured. During and after the recovery, he begins to notice changes in his thoughts and reflexes. The realization hits hard when he understands that he also has been exposed to his mother’s science. His progression begins to move faster. He has been upgraded. I raced through those chapters as Logan ran from authorities while searching for who was responsible for this conspiracy. This is where I truly loved the character development. Friends from his work were now his foe, family becomes endangered and questionable. Those questions kept piling up. The plot is intense.

There is a lot to unpack as we learn about these characters. Layer upon layer of moral dilemmas for everyone involved. It made for a riveting story. The tough and moral life questions are another reason why I loved this book. The idea of attempting something that could make the world dramatically better, while running the risk of destroying it, make for an exciting read. Logan’s mental scars and guilt from his past endeavors drive home a since of humanity as he struggles through those risks. Logan is the star of the story (obviously). Sub-characters like his mother Miriam, sister Kara, and partner Nadine fell a little flat in comparison but their stories were crucial to establishing the fine line between the heroes and villains. Those characters highlighted the reasons why Logan Ramsey is such an important protagonist.

It’s true that my favorite stories are those that wrap themselves in reality, where the fiction feels plausible. Upgrade, for example feels a lot like what we are currently seeing with CRISPR technology. We may realistically be able to start editing our genes to enhance ourselves but the questions remains…should we, and at what cost? Crouch writes in a way that you do not need to know the science to understand the plot, and I appreciate that. The research and terminology are quite impressing and encouraged me to reach towards Google to dive more into that science I enjoy that in his writing, you can understand the science simply by the “good vs evil” in the uses. He also successfully overlays the protagonists righteous ambition to those facts. It’s a common trend in his books to guide the reader through complex theories that makes sense due to the character’s journeys. As a reader, you struggle with the “rights and wrongs” of the events along side Logan, page by page.

Crouch’s UPGRADE is a legit, hard hitting sci-fi thriller that teeters on dystopian. UPGRADE has a ton of suspense, intrigue, and characters that will draw the reader in and make them question their own beliefs.

As I finish each Blake Crouch book, I am left anxiously awaiting what next gripping scenario he’s cooking up next. From my love of the parallel universes of Dark Matter, mind-bending memories in Recursion, and moral dilemmas of Upgrade, I am sure I’ll be mentally and morally tested. In my book, that’s a win.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

BLAKE CROUCH is a bestselling novelist and screenwriter. He is the author of a dozen novels, most recently, Dark Matter, Recursion, and Upgrade, for which he is also writing the movie for Steven Spielberg’s Amblin Partners. His international-bestselling Wayward Pines trilogy was adapted into a television series for FOX, executive produced by M. Night Shyamalan, that was Summer 2015’s #1 show. With Chad Hodge, Crouch also created Good Behavior, the TNT show starring Michelle Dockery based on his Letty Dobesh novellas. His novel, Recursion, is currently being developed as a Netflix series by Shonda Rhimes and Matt Reeves, and Skydance is developing a film adaptation of his novella, Summer Frost, based on Crouch’s script. His novels have been translated into forty languages and his short fiction has appeared in numerous publications including Ellery Queen, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Cemetery Dance. At the moment, Crouch is writing a new book and creating a nine-episode adaptation of his novel Dark Matter, for Apple TV+. Blake lives in Colorado.

The best way to stay apprised of new releases is to follow him on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.